Internal combustion engines



" Filed D80. 4, 1964 July 18, 19%7 c, CHARIATTE 3,331,3fi4

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 1967 G. c. CHARIAT'IFE 3,331,364

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July 1967 G. c. CHARIATTE 3,331,364

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed Dec. 4, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 aeor' as div/ 477?) United States Patent 3,331,364 INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Georges Camille Chariatte, Le Chesnay, France, assignor to Societe Anonyme Simca Automobiles, Paris, France Filed Dec. 4, 1964, Ser. No. 415,900 Claims priority, application France, Dec. 9, 1963, 959,479 7 Claims. (Cl. 123196) Piston engines for automobiles have undergone only very small changes, in their general structure, during the last decades. Engines having vertical cylinders or cylinders inclined on the vertical, generally comprise, at their upper part, a cylinder-head and a cylinder-block, and at their lower part, a deep casing which is used as an oil sump. In said casing, the oil is sucked up through a filter or rose and a pipe by means of a pump, located in the sump. This arrangement considerably increases the height of the engine and necessitates the use of high bonnets or hoods.

However, for reasons of speed and economy, the present tendencies in automobile construction are to make the bonnets or hoods for vehicles very low, the center of gravity thereof being lower than older vehicles. It therefore results that the actual engine is particularly unsuitable for a design of this kind, because it is very difiicult to house such an engine vertically under a low bonnet or hood.

In the case of a vehicle, the engine of which is located at the front, with the rear wheels driving, there has already been proposed an engine with a shaft inclined to the horizontal anda transmission shaft in a plurality of sections and connected by universal joints, which enable a sufficient height to be maintained from the ground, but nonetheless having a low bonnet. However, this solution is complicated and necessitates the use of mechanical parts which are delicate and costly.

An engine according to the invention has a minimum height, enabling it to be used on vehicles which need such low-built engines. The invention thus consists in an internal combustion engine, particularly for a motor vehicle, comprising a dry easing into which lubricating oil is returned by a recuperation pump and into a separate reservoir, which feeds a lubrieating pump for distributing the oil in the engine, wherein a shallow lower casing for the engine, forming a sump for recuperating oil and comprising a dry sump which is connected firstly to a reservoir constituted by a cavity formed in a side part of the engine cylinder block, said cavity having at least one wall, common with the external wall of the engine cylinder water jacket, and by a casing closing ofi? said cavity, on which it is fixed in a sealed manner, and, secondly, to two pumps for oil recuperation and lubrication, respectively, said pumps being located beneath the reservoir, in a housing of the cylinder block.

This arrangement, wherein a low deep sump, is replaced by a fiat casing forming a shallow sump, enables the height of the engine to be reduced without modifying other parts, such as the cylinder block and the cylinderhead.

It therefore results that the position of the crank shaft may be lowered in respect to the chassis, by keeping a sufficient guard from the ground so that a one-piece trans mission shaft may operate the diiterential, even in a vehicle with a low-built bonnet or hood. It will be apparent that advantages will also be inherent for front or rear drive vehicles with the engine located at the rear of the vehicle.

On the other hand, if the lower casing is flat, it facilitates the positioning of the steering and suspension members.

3,331,364 Patented July 18, 1967 The position of the oil reservoir also presents a certain number of advantages, and particularly, in that at least one of its walls is in contact with the water jacket of the engine, and ensures a rapid heating of the oil which is maintained at the temperature of the water in the jacket by thermal conductivity with the wall of the water jacket, which may include fins to increase the contact area. The sump is under load on the lubricating pump and thus enables an instantaneous starting of said latter during the first revolutions of the engine after starting. The result is also a reduction of air bubbles in the oil sucked up by the pumps, contrary to that which is produced in the devices where the pump is located above the oil level, and in which there exists a certain aspiration height above the oil sump, located at the lower part of the engine. For further reducing the tendency toward emulsification, a pressure limiting valve may have an outlet located Within the reservoir and guide back the oil which is only slightly charged with air, below the level of the sump. This valve which is located below the oil level, enables a column of oil under load to be available therein, by an aperture of the spring stop button, and by suitably dimensioning this aperture, the movements of the ball bearing may be damped and a racing and knocking of the valve seat may be avoided.

Finally, the oil which remains only for a short time in the crankcase, has only a limited contact with the engine gases which enter into the crank-case, and consequently it dissolves less of said gases than the engines with a reserve of oil in the casing.

Another advantage which results from using a separate oil reservoir or sump, is that the dipstick may be dispensed with, and replaced by a transparent window on the body of the reservoir or sump which enables the level of the oil therein to be seen immediately.

Other characteristics of the invention will become more apparent from the following description of one embodiment given by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a view of the whole of the engine in side elevation;

FIGURE 2 shows a vertical section along the line 11-11 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 shows a view in frontal elevation of the engine showing the arrangement of the various parts,

FIGURE 4 shows a section along the line IVIV of FIGURE 2, and

FIGURE 5 shows a section along the line VV of FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawings, the engine assembly as shown in FIGURE 1 is constituted by a cylinder-head 1 which is secured to a cylinder block 2, these two elements having the same size as those of hitherto-known engines. To the lower part of the cylinder block, there is secured a casing 3, fixed by one of its edges 4, apertured to form a strap or member. The casing 3, whose base is fiat over most of its surface, has on its periphery a sloping wall 5, facilitating the flow of the oil and joining to the fiat base, in order to constitute a shallow sump, which recuperates the oil coming from the engine, and supplies a dry sump 6 located along one of the edges of the casing 3 (FIGURES 1 and 2).

On one of the side walls of the cylinder block 2, is arranged a reservoir 7, constituted by a cavity formed during casting of the cylinder block, and by a casing 8 fitted with a filling spout 9 and a transparent window 10, for ascertaining the level of oil (FIGURE 2). The casing 8 has a flange 11, apertured to form a strap or member, which is fixed to a flange 12 on the edge of the reservoir 7, by means of bolts 13 with the interposition of a sealing joint.

On the lower part of the cylinder block 2 beneath the reservoir 7, a mounting 14 has two end plates 15, 16 and a separating plate 17 which define two pump bodies, one of which is fitted with a pair of gears 18, 19 for the recuperation pump, and the other with a pair of gears 20, 21 for the lubricating pump (FIGURES 2 and 4). A shaft 22, on which the gears 18 and 20 are fixed, forms a driving shaft for the two pumps and for the distributor 23, by means of a pinion 24 attached to one of the ends of the shaft 22. The shaft 22 is driven at the other end by means of a pinion 25, engaging with an endless screw 26, fixed to a shaft 27 which receives its movement from a toothed pinion 28, fixed to the shaft and from a notched belt 29 driven by a toothed pinion 30 secured to the crank shaft of the engine (FIGURES 3 and The notched belt 29 also controls the rotation of a toothed pinion 31 on the cam shaft located on the cylinder-head. The shaft 27, the end opposite the endless screw 26 of which is formed so as to constitute a grooved pulley 32, receives a V belt 33 which drives the fan and the water pump by means of a pulley 34 and also drives the dynamo by a pulley 35.

The lubrication of the engine is thus effected in the following manner: a pipe 36 clips into the dry sump 6, said pipe being secured to the lower part of the cylinder block by means of bolts 37, and whose outlet is located below the level 38 of the oil recuperated at the outlet of the engine (FIGURE 2). The oil sucked upby the pipe 36 is directed by a conduit 39 to a suction aperture 40 of the recuperation gear pump 18, 19 whence it is returned by a conduit 41 and a tube 42 carried by the pump body, into the oil sump 7 (FIGURES 2 and 4).

In the reservoir 7, one of the walls 43 of which is constituted by the external wall of the water jacket of the cylinder block 2, the oil is rapidly heated and is maintained at the temperature of the water in the jacket. This wall 43 may, if desired, have fins to increase the contact area between the wall and on one hand the water, and on the other hand the oil. The oil contained in the reservoir 7 is under load, by a cavity 44, cast as an extension of the reservoir 7, a filter 45 and a conduit 46, on the aspiration aperture of the lubricating gear pump 20, 21 which returns the oil under pressure by the conduit 47.

This conduit 47 is in communication on one side with a pressure-limiting valve which in this embodiment comprises a ball-bearing 48 held under the action of a spring 49 by a screwed stop button 50. However, it will be apparent that any other known type of valve could be used. An outlet 51 of said valve opens into the oil sump just below the oil level. Above the button 50 there is an aperture 52 which enables the column of oil of the sump to be under load on the valve, and appropriate dimensioning of said aperture 52 will produce damping of the movements of the ball bearing and avoid racing and the knocking on the valve seat.

The conduit 47 is also in communication with a groove 53 in the shaft 27 which directs the-oil at a regulated pressure in a central tube 54 fixed in a chamber in the shaft 27 (FIGURE 5). The oil is thus returned into the central tube 54 which opens into a centrifugal purifier constituted by a chamber 55 shaped to the end of a shaft 27 and closed by a bolted cover 56, a deflector 57 in the form of a cupel fixed on the central tube 54, and radial ribs 58. At the outlet of the purifier, the oil is directed into the annular space 59 arranged between the central tube 54 and the chamber made in the shaft 27, towards the groove 60 of the shaft 27 which communicates with the ramp 61 for generally supplying the engine with purified oil and at a regulated pressure.

After passing through the various members of the engine to be lubricated, the oil returns into the lower casing 3 and into the dry sump 6, where it it sucked up again for recirculation as hereinabove described.

I claim:

1. An internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder block, a water jacket, a dry casing secured to and below said cylinder block, a separate oil reservoir, a recuperation pump for taking oil from said dry casing and directing it into said reservoir, a lubrication pump for distributing oil to said engine from said reservoir, said dry casing forming a dry sump for lubricating oil and said separate reservoir being constituted by a cavity in a side of said cylinder block, said cavity having at least one wall common with said water jacket, and also by a casing sealing said cavity and connected thereto by a sealing joint, means for connecting said dry sump to said cavity, means for connecting said cavity to said recuperation and lubricating pumps, and a mounting in said cylinder in which said pumps are housed.

2. An internal combustion engine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said wall common to said separate reservoir and said water jacket includes heat-exchanging fins.

3. An internal combustion engine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said separate reservoir is located above the oil lubricating and recuperation pumps.

4. An internal combustion engine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said separate reservoir has an inspection window in a wall thereof, for inspecting the oil level therein.

5. An internal combustion engine as set forth in claim 1 and comprising further, a pressure-limiting valve arranged at the outlet side of said lubricating pump, said valve having an aperture for damping thereof.

6. An internal combustion engine as set forth in claim 5, wherein said pressure-limiting valve is constituted by a spring-loaded ball-bearing.

7. An internal combustion engine as set forth in claim 1 comprising further a drive shaft for said pumps, an assembly of a circular chamber in said drive shaft, a deflector in the form of a cupel and radial ribs in said circular chamber, said assembly constituting a centrifugal oil purifier.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,106,263 10/1963 McKeller 123196 X FOREIGN PATENTS 177,418 3/1922 Great Britain.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

S. ROTHBERG, Examiner.

H. BELL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE COMPRISING A CYLINDER BLOCK, A WATER JACKET, A DRY CASING SECURED TO AND BELOW SAID CYLINDER BLOCK, A SEPARATE OIL RESERVOIR, A RECUPERATION PUMP FOR TAKING OIL FROM SAID DRY CASING AND DIRECTING IT INTO SAID RESERVOIR, A LUBRICATION PUMP FOR DISTRIBUTING OIL TO SAID ENGINE FROM SAID RESERVOIR, SAID DRY CASING FORMING A DRY SUMP FOR LUBRICATING OIL AND SAID SEPARATE RESERVOIR BEING CONSTITUTED BY A CAVITY IN A SIDE OF SAID CYLINDER BLOCK, SAID CAVITY HAVING AT LEAST ONE WALL COMMON WITH SAID WATER JACKET, AND ALSO BY A CASING SEALING SAID CAVITY AND CONNECTED THERETO BY A SEALING JOINT, MEANS FOR CONNECTING SAID DRY SUMP TO 